As I watched this movie with its young male lead entering a creepy institution up on a hillside, I thought of Shutter Island. Dane Dehaan is a b list leonardo de caprio in many ways and this film is a b rate Shutter Island from start to finish. But I adore Shutter Island so the fact that I merely loved this is still high praise. 

Jason Isaacs is the main runner of the institution and he has Celia Imrie and Mia Goth among his customers who are dosed up on the water which comes down from the Alps themselves, cleansing the body and mind. 

Dehaan has an accident which is filmed in a glorious way by Gore Verbinski and that’s when our lead finds himself holed up at the institution and drinking this mysterious elixer. As the film title suggests, maybe the water is one thing to be avoided. Cue drug like hallucinations (or are they real?) scenes where our hero searches behind the scenes in order to seek out the truth. 

It’s a long film and I was on board right up until late in the running time when a white hooded coven scene began and I thought all was lost but I was wrong. I’ve seen a handful of films which don’t know how to wrap things up and always seem to go to the crowd of people in robes holding candles. It could be accused of going a bit far in its closing moments but I just about held on enough to stay with it. 

Not wholly original then but something to seek out if you did enjoy Shutter Island. And I certainly did enjoy both.